Jay Bavisi is the Co-Founder and President of EC-Council, a company specializing in data safety schooling, coaching, and certification. Established in response to the cybersecurity challenges highlighted by the occasions of 9/11, EC-Council focuses on addressing cyber terrorism and associated safety considerations on a world scale. The group is understood for creating certification applications akin to Licensed Moral Hacker (C|EH), Laptop Hacking Forensic Investigator (C|HFI), Safe Analyst (E|CSA), and Licensed Penetration Tester (L|PT).
Bavisi performed a task in growing a partnership with the Worldwide Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations company, by the Worldwide Multilateral Partnership Towards Cyber Threats (IMPACT). This collaboration aimed to boost data safety consciousness and capabilities throughout 194 member nations.
You launched EC-Council within the wake of 9/11 with a mission to construct world cybersecurity resilience. Are you able to share the story behind that founding second and what motivated you to dedicate your profession to securing the digital world?
Within the aftermath of 9/11, it turned painfully clear that safety needed to evolve. We had been now not simply guarding borders. We had been all of a sudden uncovered in methods we hadn’t totally grasped, particularly within the digital world. I noticed that the subsequent frontier of battle and resilience was our on-line world. It was a wake-up name for governments, companies, and people across the globe.
That second turned the start line for EC-Council. We noticed a important hole. There merely weren’t sufficient educated professionals who might defend our digital infrastructure. So, we got down to create a world power of moral hackers; professionals who might assume like adversaries however act with integrity to defend and safe.
That concept gave delivery to the Licensed Moral Hacker certification (CEH).It was radical on the time. We weren’t simply educating instruments or methods. We had been instilling a mindset. We had been saying, discover ways to break issues so you understand how to guard them.
Over time, CEH turned a world customary. However what really drives me is not only how far we’ve come, however what number of lives, companies, and governments we’ve helped defend.
What began as a response to tragedy has turn into a lifelong dedication to constructing digital resilience. That mission nonetheless guides every thing we do at this time.
With over 350,000 cybersecurity professionals in your community, what modifications have you ever seen within the skillsets most in demand at this time—particularly post-ChatGPT and generative AI?
Cybersecurity has at all times been a race in opposition to time. However with the explosion of generative AI, led by instruments like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, your complete panorama has been reengineered. What used to take hours of guide effort can now be achieved in seconds with precision and scale. The accessibility of those AI instruments has democratized capabilities that had been as soon as restricted to elite risk actors. Now, anybody with a keyboard and curiosity can automate assaults, manipulate information, or impersonate identities at scale.
Let’s be clear: OpenAI didn’t create cybercrime. However its applied sciences together with these from different main AI labs have supercharged what’s doable, for each defenders and attackers. The twin-use nature of generative AI means we’re dwelling in a world the place innovation and exploitation transfer in lockstep.
This shift has raised the bar for each cybersecurity skilled. It’s now not sufficient to know primary safety ideas. In the present day, professionals should know the way AI works, how it may be exploited, and the way it modifications the assault floor. Expertise like adversarial machine studying, immediate injection detection, and purple teaming with AI-based instruments are shortly changing into core competencies.
We noticed this transformation mirrored within the CEH Menace Report. The info was clear risk actors are adapting quick. Our group should study even sooner.
At EC-Council, we’ve constructed a tradition round upskilling. From foundational certifications just like the Licensed Cybersecurity Technician to AI specialised applications like CEH and CPENT, we’re enabling learners to constantly construct and sharpen their capabilities.
In cybersecurity, there isn’t any end line. Those that decide to evolving, questioning, and studying are those who will form the way forward for digital protection. Upskilling is now not about staying aggressive. It’s about staying related and staying prepared.
What makes the AI-powered CEH (Licensed Moral Hacker) certification uniquely positioned to deal with present and future threats?
The Licensed Moral Hacker certification has turn into synonymous with belief within the cybersecurity trade. When organizations search for professionals who can defend their methods proactively, CEH is the credential they depend on. It’s acknowledged by the U.S. Division of Protection and adopted by 1000’s of employers worldwide, not only for its technical rigor, however as a result of it represents readiness, resilience, and real-world relevance.
What makes CEH stand out at this time is the way it has developed to deal with a brand new class of threats powered by synthetic intelligence. In its newest model, CEH doesn’t simply point out AI as a future concern. It brings it into the center of the educational expertise. Learners work together with AI-driven adversaries in simulated environments. They’re uncovered to over 550 assault methods, a lot of which now replicate how actual attackers are utilizing automation, machine studying, and artificial content material to interrupt into methods.
CEH is designed to arrange professionals for what they are going to face, not simply what’s written in textbooks. It follows a full-cycle strategy: Study-Certify-Interact-Compete framework. That journey creates muscle reminiscence, strategic pondering, and instinctive responses.
In a world the place cyber threats are evolving by the hour, CEH is greater than a certification. It’s a sign to employers that you’re not solely educated however ready. And in cybersecurity, that form of belief is every thing.
How does EC-Council’s strategy to coaching differ when making ready professionals to defend in opposition to AI-generated threats or to safe AI methods themselves?
We’re coming into a cybersecurity period the place threats aren’t solely extra advanced but in addition more and more autonomous. Defenders should now be able to counter assaults launched by clever methods that adapt, study, and evolve. At EC-Council, we’ve reimagined our coaching to replicate this actuality. We don’t put together learners for yesterday’s challenges. We put together them for what comes subsequent.
In CEH and CPENT learners are immersed in environments the place adversaries use AI to imitate human conduct, automate breaches, and dynamically modify their techniques. These aren’t tutorial workout routines. They’re real-world simulations designed to sharpen instincts, not simply understanding. Professionals discover ways to defend methods that assume and the best way to safe AI itself.
We additionally imagine that expertise shouldn’t be confined by geography. By way of world initiatives just like the Licensed Cybersecurity Technician Scholarship Program , we’re making these alternatives accessible to aspiring professionals in underserved areas. The aim is to construct a tradition of safety, globally.
This imaginative and prescient is powered by a strong ecosystem. EC-Council Studying , the world’s largest on-line cybersecurity library, supplies on-demand entry to 1000’s of bite-sized classes, up to date constantly to replicate the newest threats, instruments, and vulnerabilities. Whether or not you’re studying the best way to counter AI-generated assaults or brushing up on SOC procedures, ECL helps professionals keep prepared; anytime, wherever.
EC-Council College (ECCU) shapes the subsequent era of cybersecurity leaders with a robust basis in tutorial and executive-level data. EGS presents strategic enterprise options that assist organizations construct mature cyber protection frameworks.
After which there’s the Hackerverse CTF our world cyber competitors platform the place data meets stress. Members face off in red-versus-blue workforce battles, simulating real-time breaches, defending mission-critical methods, and dealing collaboratively to neutralize threats. It’s greater than a contest. It’s a proving floor that builds resilience, creativity, and the flexibility to carry out when it issues most.
That is how we put together professionals to fulfill the long run. With data that’s present, environments which might be immersive, and platforms that encourage motion. Cybersecurity is now not only a profession. It’s a calling, and our mission is to equip the world’s defenders for that accountability.
Your applications are acknowledged by world companies just like the NSA and ANSI. How do you keep such a excessive customary whereas quickly evolving your curriculum to fulfill AI developments?
It’s one factor to maintain up with change. It’s one other to remain trusted whereas doing it. For us, high quality and agility should go hand in hand. That’s how we’ve earned and maintained recognition from world our bodies just like the NSA and ANSI.
We have now a system that retains us grounded in analysis whereas staying open to innovation. Our world workforce tracks rising threats, analyzes new assault vectors, and screens developments in AI and cybersecurity. That intelligence feeds instantly into our curriculum pipeline.
However velocity alone will not be sufficient. Each replace we make goes by a rigorous course of. We pilot check it with seasoned professionals. We validate it in real-world environments like our cyber ranges. And we refine it based mostly on suggestions from those that dwell within the trenches each day.
Take CEH and CPENT for instance. Integrating AI simulations into these applications was not only a technical determination. It was a mission-driven one. We needed to verify professionals had been being educated in what they’d truly encounter not simply what concept says they may.
What retains our applications forward is that this fixed steadiness of innovation and integrity. We don’t simply train greatest practices. We construct applications that practitioners, governments, and world enterprises can belief. And we plan to maintain it that means.
What function does EC-Council envision enjoying in shaping world coverage or regulation round AI in cybersecurity?
Coverage is just as efficient because the perception it’s constructed on. At EC-Council, we imagine cybersecurity regulation should be knowledgeable by those that face threats each day. That’s the reason we actively interact with policymakers, schooling ministries, requirements our bodies, and intergovernmental organizations to assist form the frameworks that information the way forward for digital safety.
Our function will not be restricted to curriculum growth. We’re a part of a broader dialogue on how nations and establishments can construct resilience, particularly as AI turns into extra deeply built-in into each offensive and defensive capabilities. We deliver to the desk frontline intelligence from our huge community of cybersecurity professionals, risk researchers, and instructors throughout 145 nations. This provides us a singular vantage level—rooted in sensible actuality and world scale.
We contribute to the event of nationwide workforce requirements, advise on rising AI competencies, and collaborate with governments to align cybersecurity schooling with nationwide safety objectives. Our insights have helped outline the construction of public-private partnerships, capacity-building initiatives, and the function of steady studying in long-term resilience methods.
Whether or not by certifications, enterprise coaching, tutorial applications, or analysis partnerships, we’re shaping not simply how professionals are educated, however how nations put together for the long run. As AI continues to reshape the cyber area, our mission is to make sure coverage retains tempo with readability, foresight, and integrity.
Do you imagine we’re approaching a degree the place conventional safety roles should evolve into “AI safety specialists”?
The shift is already occurring. AI is now not a specialised matter sitting on the perimeters of cybersecurity. It’s changing into a part of each operate, from risk detection to identification administration, from purple teaming to vulnerability evaluation. Safety professionals can now not afford to deal with AI as a separate talent set. It’s now foundational.
We’re seeing the early indicators of this transformation within the job market. New roles are rising AI safety researcher, artificial identification analyst, LLM immediate danger evaluator. These aren’t simply buzzwords. They’re alerts that organizations want individuals who perceive each cybersecurity and the mechanics of clever methods.
At EC-Council, we’re embedding AI throughout our total certification ecosystem. It’s now not reserved for superior learners. Even in foundational programs, professionals are launched to AI-driven threats and protection methods. We’re educating individuals the best way to assume critically about machine studying pipelines, the best way to detect algorithmic bias, and the best way to stop AI from being turned in opposition to the methods it was meant to guard.
The way forward for cybersecurity belongs to those that can bridge disciplines. As AI turns into embedded in each facet of digital infrastructure, our defenders should develop simply as refined. This evolution will not be non-obligatory. It’s the subsequent chapter within the story of cyber resilience.
You’ve emphasised supporting startups past main tech hubs—how are you making certain entry to this funding and coaching throughout underrepresented areas?
At EC-Council, we’re continually working to increase the attain of cybersecurity innovation. We’re seeing a number of the most promising concepts come from locations far exterior conventional tech corridors, typically from professionals fixing pressing challenges in actual time, with deep native perception and restricted assets.
To assist this momentum, we’re working a $100 M world funding initiative that actively invests in cybersecurity startups demonstrating real-world influence, no matter location. We aren’t simply providing capital. We’re offering mentorship, technical steerage, and entry to EC-Council’s world platforms; serving to startups develop their options and entry worldwide markets.
We’re giving precedence to ventures led by EC-Council-certified professionals, as they carry each technical experience and a robust moral basis to their work. These people perceive the complexities of recent threats and are constructing options that align with trade wants and societal influence.
On the identical time, we’re rising entry to coaching in underserved areas. By way of our Licensed Cybersecurity Technician Scholarship Program, we’re opening doorways for aspiring professionals in nations like Nepal and Malaysia. We’re additionally enabling learners all over the world to have interaction with high-quality content material by our platforms, gaining the abilities they should contribute meaningfully to the sector.
We’re constructing an ecosystem that continues to develop by recognizing expertise wherever it exists and supporting innovation that makes a distinction globally.
What impressed EC-Council to launch a $100 million initiative now, and the way do you see AI altering the cybersecurity innovation panorama within the subsequent 5 years?
We launched $100 M world funding initiative as a result of the panorama has modified. Innovation is now not confined to giant firms or tutorial labs. It’s being pushed by practitioners by individuals within the trenches who’re seeing new challenges and responding with daring, sensible options.
The velocity and scale at which AI is remodeling cybersecurity is unprecedented. Over the subsequent 5 years, we anticipate to see main advances in predictive analytics, autonomous purple teaming, AI-native SOCs, and real-time determination engines. These aren’t science fiction. They’re already taking form in prototypes and early deployments.
However innovation alone will not be sufficient. It wants assist. That’s the reason we created this initiative to gas the subsequent era of cybersecurity breakthroughs. We’re on the lookout for startups that mix technical excellence with deep mission focus. We need to again builders who perceive the issue from the within and are prepared to unravel it from the bottom up.
Our aim is to create a multiplier impact. We offer funding, mentorship, and world visibility. In return, we assist scale concepts that may strengthen protection methods worldwide.
This isn’t simply an funding. It’s a dedication to the way forward for cybersecurity. A future the place the most effective concepts get constructed, regardless of the place they arrive from.
What recommendation would you give to younger professionals contemplating coming into the cybersecurity subject at this time—notably these fascinated by AI?
Begin with curiosity. That’s a very powerful trait on this subject. You do not want an ideal resume or a standard background. What you want is the drive to study, the self-discipline to maintain going, and the braveness to ask higher questions.
Cybersecurity is without doubt one of the most significant careers you possibly can pursue. It’s not nearly defending information. It’s about defending individuals, establishments, and the very cloth of our digital lives. And if you’re drawn to AI, that’s much more thrilling. We’re in the beginning of a brand new period the place clever methods will form how we defend every thing from private units to nationwide infrastructure.
Dive into how fashions work. Break them. Repair them. Perceive how attackers exploit them and the way defenders can battle again. Experiment. Study. Collaborate. This isn’t a solo journey. The very best cybersecurity professionals work in groups, construct communities, and develop by sharing.
At EC-Council, we’ve constructed a path for each stage of that journey. Whether or not you’re simply beginning with hands-on labs or pushing your self in world competitions, there’s house for you right here. The world wants moral defenders who aren’t solely expert, however pushed by goal. If that sounds such as you, then welcome to a subject the place you may make an actual influence.
Thanks for the nice interview, readers who want to study extra ought to go to EC-Council.
